Moments ago the Treasury closed its latest 5 Year bond auction in what was probably the most boring auction of 2013 to date, and perhaps of the last several months. The high yield was 0.889 [4]%, just inside of the 0.89 When Issued, with 32.39% allotted at the high, some 12 bps higher than December's 0.769 and the second month in a row of increasing yield. While hardly anything to write home about, this was the highest yield on 5 Year paper since march 2012. The Bid To Cover also rose, at 2.88, it was higher than last auction's 2.72, and right on top of the past 12 month average. The internals were boring too, with last month's record Direct take down of 30.4%, and correspondingly low Indirect 32.4% take down, inverting, with some 16.8% of the auction going to Directs, still the second highest ever, while Indirects ended up with 39.7%, and the remaining 43.5% handed to Dealers. In short- very uneventful, and just like yesterday, not even a trace that someone, anyone, may be losing their appetite for US paper.
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